Context:
- There has been a 10% decline in the number of Chinese transgressions this year.
Highlights
- The presence of Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has also reduced by around 30%.
- The manpower has been substituted with powerful surveillance equipment.
- Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre informed the Rajya Sabha on February 5 that the number of transgressions was 426 in 2017.
- The transgressions dropped after the 73-day standoff between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at Doklam on the China-Sikkim-Bhutan tri-junction near Nathu La last year.
- The transgressions continue to take place due to the difference in perception of the actual boundary. But after Doklam, the diplomatic manoeuvring and dialogue with the counterparts at the border ensured there was no steep increase.
Resoluting the disputes
- There are many incidents of border transgressions that are not being recorded by both sides.
- If it’s reported, then it becomes part of the official record.
- The troops on both sides are communicating more and sorting out the differences.
Details
- At least three intrusions were reported in Leh, Uttarakhand’s Barahoti and the strategically sensitive Asaphila in Arunachal Pradesh on August 15 when the two armies held a special Border Personnel Meeting at Nathu La in Sikkim.
- An analysis of the report reveals that the transgressions are anywhere from 300 metres to 19 km in the Indian territory.
Drawing the Boundary
- Along the Ladakh border in Jammu and Kashmir, India sticks mostly to a boundary drawn by British civil servant W.H. Johnson in 1865, which showed Aksai Chin as part of Jammu and Kashmir.
- China disputes this claim and in the 1950s built a road connecting Xinjiang and Tibet which ran through Aksai Chin.
- In the northeast of India, New Delhi sticks to the McMahon Line, as agreed by British representatives and Tibet at Simla in 1914.
- China claims that Tibet is not a sovereign nation and the McMahon Line has no legal standing.
- It stakes claim to the entire Arunachal Pradesh as part of Tibet.
- The Middle Sector along Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand is almost settled, with both sides not differing much in perception.
Source:TH